1. Field of the Invention
The present invention belongs to a technical field of a mounting apparatus for computer peripheral equipment for detachably mounting, within a computer body, an optical disk drive device, a floppy disk drive device, a card type recording medium recording/reproducing device, a tape-like recording medium recording/reproducing device, and other various computer peripheral equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 22, a plurality of openings 2 are formed in a control panel 1a of a computer body 1 of a tower type (a longitudinal type) or the like, and an optical disk drive device 3 and other various computer peripheral equipment 4 are mounted in the plurality of upper and lower openings 2 horizontally and detachably.
A mounting apparatus common to the devices for mounting the optical disk drive device 3 into the computer body 1 is constituted as shown in FIG. 23 such that four threaded holes (holes having female threads subjected to tapping in the inner circumference) 5 are formed in advance on both left and right sides 3b of an outer cover 3a of the optical disk drive device 3 or the like and at a predetermined position; that a mounting frame 6 formed of sheet metal into a rectangular shape is fixedly mounted within the computer body 1; and that a front panel 1a formed of synthetic resin of the computer body 1 is removed, one or more optical disk drive devices 3 are inserted horizontally in a direction of arrow a (before and behind) into the mounting frame 6, two stop screws 7 inserted from both left and right plate parts 6a of the mounting frame 6 are selectively connected to two out of four threaded holes 5 on both left and right sides 3b of the optical disk drive device 3, and the one or more optical disk drive devices 3 are screwed from both left and right sideways of the one mounting frame 6.
However, in this mounting apparatus, when the optical disk drive device 3 and the like are screwed to both left and right plate parts 6a of the mounting frame 6 by means of two stop screws 8, a pair of left and right side panels 1b made of sheet metal or the like screwed to the computer body 1 by means of a number of stop screws 6 also have to be removed every time, and mounting and dismounting of the front panel 1a and the side panel 1b and many screwing works are necessary, greatly deteriorating operativeness. Development of a new mounting apparatus has been strongly desired.
In view of the foregoing, in recent years, an adaptor 11 shown in FIG. 24 has been developed. The adaptor 11 is composed of three parts, i.e., a base plate 12 subjected to press working by a thick plate spring, and a pair of thin left and right plate springs 13 mounted in parallel internally of front end portions of both left and right plate parts 12a folded vertically upward from both left and right edges of the base plate 12, the pair of left and right plate springs 13 being caulked to the inside of the front end portion of the base plate 12 by means of a pair of caulking pins 14. The base plate 12 is formed with four screw insert holes 15 and is horizontally formed on both left and right end edges with a plurality of projections 16 spaced apart in a longitudinal direction, both the left and right plate parts 12a being vertically formed on the rear end side with a pair of left and right stopper parts 17. The pair of left and right plate springs 13 are vertically and integrally formed with a pair of left and right gripping parts 18 and stopping spring parts 19.
When the optical disk drive device 3 and the like are mounted internally of the computer body 1 shown in FIG. 22, first, four stop screws 20 inserted, from downward, into four screw insert holes of the base plate 12 of the adaptor 11 are connected to four threaded holes 21 formed in the bottom 3c of the optical disk drive device 3 or the like, the base plate 12 of the adaptor 11 is screwed horizontally to the bottom 3c of the optical disk drive device 3 or the like, and the pair of left and right gripping parts 18 and the stopping spring parts 19 are arranged vertically at both side positions of both the left and right sides 3b of the optical disk drive device 3 or the like.
The adaptor 11 is inserted integrally with the optical disk drive device 3 or the like horizontally in a direction of arrow a into the mounting frame 6 shown in FIG. 22, and the plurality of left and right projections 16 are placed horizontally making use of own weight on a pair of leaf and right place beds (not shown) formed horizontally internally of both the left and right plate parts 6a of the mounting frame 6. Then, the pair of left and right stopper parts 17 are placed in contact with a pair of left and right stopper parts (not shown) formed vertically at deep positions internally of both the left and right plate parts 6a of the mounting frame 6, and the pair of left and right stopping spring parts 19 are mounted so as to be detachable making use of elasticity on a pair of left and right spring stop parts (not shown) formed vertically at front positions internally of both the left and right plate parts 6a of the mounting frame 6.
If the adaptor 11 shown in FIG. 24 is used, the pair of left and right side panels 1b need not be detachably mounted every time but the optical disk drive device 3 or the like can be mounted integral with the adaptor 11 by one-touch operation merely by inserting them into the mounting frame 6 horizontally in a direction of arrow a, unlike the case where the optical disk drive device shown in FIG. 23 is screwed by means of four stop screws 7 to both the left and right plate parts 6a of the mounting frame 6 shown in FIG. 22. When the optical disk drive device 3 or the is removed from the mounting frame 6, the front panel 1a of the computer body 1 is removed and the pair of left and right gripping parts 18 of the adaptor 11 are merely strongly pulled in a direction of arrow b in FIG. 22 on the forward side whereby the disk drive device 3 or the like can be removed integral with the adaptor 11 in a direction of arrow b, which is convenient.
However, the mounting apparatus using the adaptor 11 shown in FIG. 24 is not of the type in which the optical drive device 3 or the like is directly placed on the pair of left and right place bed parts of the mounting frame 6, but of the type in which the optical disk drive device 3 or the like is placed making use of own weight on the pair of left and right place bed parts internally of the mounting frame 6 by a plurality of projections 16 on both the left and right sides of the base plate 12 of the adaptor 11. Therefore, as the base plate 12, a sheet metal which is thick and strong enough to carry weight of the optical disk drive device 3 has to be used to result in an increase of weight and higher cost. Further, a longitudinal (directions of arrows a and b) backlash of the optical disk device 3 inserted into the mounting frame 6 to the mounting frame 6 can be prevented but the vertical backlash is prevented relying upon only the sum total of the optical disk drive device 3 and the adaptor 11, because of which the vertical backlash cannot be prevented completely.
Moreover, since the adaptor 11 itself is composed of three parts, i.e., the base plate 12, and the pair of left and right plate springs 13, and has the construction in which the pair of left and right plate springs 13 are caulked to the inside of the front end sides of the left and right plate parts 12a of the base plate 12 using a plurality of caulking pins 14, there many numbers of parts and many assembling steps of the adaptor 11 itself, resulting in a high unit price of the adaptor 11 itself. In addition, the work for screwing the base plate 12 of the adaptor 11 to the bottom 3c of the optical disk drive device 3 or the like by four stop screws 20 is troublesome, posing a problem that operativeness is deteriorated.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mounting apparatus for computer peripheral equipment capable of solving all the problems noted above at one effort.
For achieving the above-described object, a mounting apparatus, a mounting method, and a recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention uses an adaptor formed into a shape having a downwardly facing open side formed by a top plate part and both left and right sides suspended downward from both left and right end edges of the top plate part The adaptor is detachably mounted, from the top, on computer peripheral equipment of an optical disk drive device or the like whereby the adaptor is located in a longitudinal direction with respect to the computer peripheral equipment by first locating means. Then, the computer peripheral equipment is inserted integral with the adaptor into a mounting frame mounted within the computer body in a longitudinal direction, and the computer peripheral equipment is placed horizontally on a bottom place bed of a mounting frame inserting part. At this time, the adaptor is located elastically with respect to longitudinal direction and vertical direction into the mounting frame by second locating means.
In the mounting apparatus, the mounting method, and the recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention constituted as described above, the adaptor having a shape with a downwardly facing open side is mounted detachably, from the top, on the computer peripheral equipment of the optical disk drive device or the like whereby the adaptor is located with respect to the computer peripheral equipment in a longitudinal direction by the first locating means, and so, the adaptor need not be screwed every time to the computer peripheral equipment. Then, the computer peripheral equipment is inserted integral with the adaptor into a mounting frame mounted within the computer body in a longitudinal direction, and the computer peripheral equipment is placed horizontally on a bottom place bed of a mounting frame inserting part, and so, the adaptor need not at all to carry weight of the computer peripheral equipment. And, the adaptor is located elastically with respect to longitudinal direction and vertical direction into the mounting frame by second locating means, and the computer peripheral equipment is located in a state free from backlash within the mounting frame.
The mounting apparatus for computer peripheral equipment according to the present invention constituted as described above is able to succeed in the following effect.
The adaptor has shape with a downwardly facing open side and is mounted detachably, from the top, on the computer peripheral equipment of the optical disk drive device or the like whereby the adaptor is located with respect to the computer peripheral equipment in a longitudinal direction by the first locating means, and so, the adaptor need not be screwed every time to the computer peripheral equipment; then, the computer peripheral equipment is inserted integral with the adaptor into a mounting frame mounted within the computer body in a longitudinal direction, and the computer peripheral equipment is placed horizontally on a bottom place bed of a mounting frame inserting part, and so, the adaptor need not at all to carry weight of the computer peripheral equipment; further, the adaptor is located elastically with respect to longitudinal direction and vertical direction into the mounting frame by second locating means, and the computer peripheral equipment is located in a state free from backlash within the mounting frame. For the reasons mentioned above, the computer peripheral equipment can be mounted in and removed from the mounting frame extremely simply by one-touch operation to remarkably enhance operativeness of the mounting and removal. Moreover, particularly, since the adaptor can be constituted by a single part, the construction is very simple, and no load of the computer peripheral equipment is exerted whereby the apparatus which is light and inexpensive can be manufactured by thin sheet meta or synthetic resin molding parts, thus capable of achieving a considerable cost down due to the lower unit price of parts along with the fact that no stop screw is used.
Further, the first locating means can be constituted simply by a vertical guide groove and a guide pin, and longitudinal locating of an adaptor to computer peripheral equipment can be accomplished simply and accurately.
Further, the second locating means for locating the computer peripheral equipment onto the place bed of the mounting frame is constituted by at least a guide pin, and a plate spring part crimped at right angles on the place bed of the mounting frame. Therefore, the second locating means can be constituted simply, and the computer peripheral equipment can be located on the place bed simply and accurately.
Since the adaptor can be guided and inserted into the mounting frame by a plurality guide pins and a plurality of horizontal guide grooves, insertion and removing of the adaptor from the mounting frame are accomplished smoothly.
Since a pair of left and right gripping parts are provided on front ends of both left and right plate parts of an adaptor, the computer peripheral equipment can be pulled out of the mounting frame.